Forrest Richard (Dickey) Betts was born on December 12, 1943 and grew up in a musical family, listening to traditional bluegrass, country music and Western swing. He started playing ukulele at five and moved on to mandolin, banjo, and guitar, but by age sixteen he was feeling the need for something 'a little faster', and so joined a series of rock bands on the Florida circuit, before forming Second Coming with Berry Oakley in 1967. In 1969, Duane Allman had turned his success as a session player into a contract with Southern soul impresario Phil Walden, and had formed The Allman Brothers Band with his brother Gregg, and had invited Betts to join, introducing a melodic twin guitar attack which rewrote the rules for how two rock guitarists can work together. After the death of Duane Allman in late 1971, Betts became the band's sole guitarist and also took on a greater singing and leadership role, practicing slide guitar intensively over the course of one night's traveling in order to cover the majority of Duane's parts. He went on to write 'Jessica' and the Allmans' biggest commercial hit 'Ramblin' Man', and drove the band on to great commercial success over the next three years. In 1974 he released his first solo album 'Highway Call', and it was at this time that he also started to offer his services to other bands who wanted to include some slide guitar or dobro on their records. In 1974 he played with Charlie Daniels and Sly Stone on Elvin Bishop's 'Let It Flow' record, trading guitar licks with The Marshall Tucker Band's Toy Caldwell on the lenghty 'Travelin' Shoes'. He also played with Daniels again that same year on his band's 'Fire On The Mountain' album, and rounded out the year adding some guitar to Grinderswitch's 'Honest To Goodness'. Also in 1974, Kitty Wells, the Queen of Country Music, went to Georgia to record with a rock band for the first time, and chose The Allman Brothers and The Marshall Tucker Band to back her, giving Betts the opportunity to play with a country legend on her 'Forever Young' album. The following year he played with The Marshall Tucker Band themselves, and also added slide guitar to Bobby Whitlock's 'One Of A Kind' album. 1976 saw him playing with Bonnie Bramlett, Billy Joe Shaver, and on Buddy Miles' funky R&B 'Bicentennial Gathering Of The Tribes' album, where he slows things down a bit with the country-ish ballad 'Searchin' (For Love)'. We end with some great funky guitar-work from Betts on Corky Laing's 1977 album, showing that he's not just a good-ol' country boy when it comes to his guitar-playing.
Track listing
01 Kiss The Blues Goodbye (from 'Honest To Goodness' by Grinderswitch 1974)02 Travelin' Shoes (from 'Let It Flow' by Elvin Bishop 1974)03 Long Haired Country Boy (from 'Fire On The Mountain' by Charlie Daniels Band 1974)04 My Love Never Changes (from 'Forever Young' by Kitty Wells 1975)05 You Don't Have To Be Alone (from 'One Of A Kind' by Bobby Whitlock 1975)06 Searchin' For A Rainbow (from 'Searchin' For A Rainbow' by Marshall Tucker Band 1975)07 Ain't That Loving You Baby (from 'Lady's Choice' by Bonnie Bramlett 1976)08 Love You Till The Cows Come Home (from 'When I Get My Wings' by Billy Shaver 1976)09 Searchin' (For Love) (from 'Bicentennial Gathering Of The Tribes' by Buddy Miles 1976)10 On My Way (To The River) (from 'Makin' It On The Street' by Corky Laing 1977)
